by WatchTower87 53 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
committee chairman.
just one thought, was the accused a male that was NOT reaching out for privileges ( the Cong had no real use for him) or a female? I say that b/c women are disposable in this Org but replacing a male who is elder material is not easy. In fact I know for sure in the past they just relocated men who got involved with these crimes.
The letter directs two elders to make a call on the child molester. I assume the reason would be to bring the good news to the molester. They are recruiting more molesters! i don't understand why else two elders would go visit a molester. It does sound like a welcome wagon call.
I see that they are also sticking with the two witness or three witness rule. The Conti case does not have them running scared. There is no awareness of how pedophilia works in this letter. They view it as something that WT study can cure. It is interesting that one calls the Legal Department. They never state why. Why the branch and not the local elders?
They exert such control and yet in court, they will claim that individuals acted and not the WTBTS. it is easy to see why the Conti jury assessed such punitive damages.
The bible is explicit about requiring two witnesses, as this letter reminds elders. Jurisprudence has advanced somewhat in the past 2,000 years and in the case of this sort of crime (where privacy is desired by the perpetrator), evidence is considered a sufficient "second witness". Evidence is time-sensitive. Evidence can be buried. No time to dilly-dally around whether to call the police or not.
Comitee CM,
I am glad to hear that was done the way it was. Quite honestly, I am not surprised that they did it that way. The law suits have piled up. At a certain point, they are FORCED to change the policy.
And so it appears they have. I would argue in favor of some others comments here regarding it still not really being enough. Of course without details (which I don't really want), including the state you are in, the nature of the attack or allegation, and some other factors, it is hard to say if this is indicative of a shift on the issue, or more of an isolated issue.
I certainly hope it signals a change for the sake of current and former victims.
Violia, I was thinking along the same lines. The response may depend on the role the accused has within the congregation.
If the accused is not in a position of responsibility they could more likely get the "call the authority right away, why are you just notifying us" type of response.
However, if the accused has a role within a congregation, then they could more likely get a response, probing more questions or giving specific directions as to if or how to report. The more significant the role, the more detailed the questions and/or directions given.
It seems that the purpose is to determine how much responsibility will lie on the org v. the accuser.
The most disturbing aspect of this matter to me is the expectation that personal conscience should play no part in a moral crisis. Instead, the WTS is utterly authoritarian.
This is one strong reason why I gave up as an elder and a Witness - again and again, I failed to observe any difference between what the WTS did and how the world acted. Worse, there were times when "worldly" morality was superior to the Watchtower's standards - as with corporate fraud being punished unlike the false predictions of the Watchtower.
metatron
yes Kidding me, the Borg is so crooked and two faced , full of double standards. It is just CYA and that is all it is.
What concerns me is how many times a publisher overlooks the "Do Not Call" on the territory card. When they approach the door and find out that it seemed like a good call and placed literature there, they assume that it was a mistake.
There should be a better arrangement to protect young people from this danger.
Soooooo . . . . a child abuser, even one in a case with two witnesses, even one with is labeled a "predator" is allowed to be involved in the preaching work? Is this correct? As in the society thinks it's ok for him to knock on doors of unsuspecting families who have no idea of his past? Tell me I'm missing something.
No one should keep originals or copies of any of those letters.
Why are they destroying them? They may regret putting that order in writing so an oppising attorney can use it against them.
